Separating Assets (Care Home Fees)

[Kamperfan]

Hi,

I think I know the answer to this question but just in case …...

Several weeks ago, after visiting several care homes, we returned to our favoured one with a view to putting Dad on the waiting list. As it turned out they had a room vacant there and then and so within a few days Dad had moved in for a trial stay which now looks like becoming permanent. We had expected to wait a month or two for a room to become available so the speed of the process caught us by surprise and meant that most of my parents assets were still sitting in joint accounts. This means that what should be Mum's half of the assets are helping to pay for Dad's care so I'm just beginning the process of registering the Power of Attorney with the bank. It looks like the process of separating the accounts could take weeks in which time several thousand pounds will have been paid out from the joint account for Dad's care, half of which is effectively Mum's money. So my question is once my parents assets are separated would it be permissible to return the half of the care home fees being paid from Mum's assets while the accounts are separated (taking the money from Dad's new individual account)?

Thanks

 

[canary]

That sounds perfectly reasonable to me. If anyone queries it you should have the invoices from the care home.

 

[jugglingmum]

I'd take a note of the assets on the day your dad entered the care home and split them at that point.

 

[Kamperfan]

Thanks for the responses. I'm worried that if I were to now separate my parents' accounts and repay half the care costs incurred up to the moment the assets were separated to Mum's account then when the local authority looks back at the finances it will say that the assets were in a joint account and therefore shared assets and thus Mum is equally responsible for paying the care fees.

 

[Louise7]

Only your Dad's assets will be used to pay for his care, not your Mum's.

You may find this fact sheet about paying for care useful: https://www.alzheimers.org.uk/get-support/legal-financial/financial-assessment#content-start

With regards joint assets it states the following:

If there are joint bank accounts or other assets held jointly, the assessment can only take into account the share belonging to the person with dementia. It is assumed that their share is 50 per cent, unless it is shown otherwise.

Edit: I think you are confusing yourself by referring to your Mum's half of the assets in the joint account being paid towards your Dad's care. So for example, if the joint assets were £100,000 at the time your Dad went into care, your parents would have had £50,000 each. The care home fees would come out of your Dad's £50,000 - not half from your Dad and half from your Mum. When you split the accounts your Mum would keep her £50,000 and your Dad would have the remaining amount (his £50,000 minus what has been paid for his care). You don't have to repay half the care costs into your Mum's account. Hope that makes sense.

 

[Kamperfan]

Thank you all. As Louise7 said, I was assuming that assets were only regarded as separate once they were actually separated into individual accounts and that until then Mum would contribute to Dad's care home fees by default.
I was feeling guilty about not sorting out the accounts sooner and, with Dad's care fees costing £5000/month, it could quickly make a considerable dent in Mum's savings.
Thanks again